Reddit mentions of Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language

150 - the book you want is Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language, by Robin Dunbar. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0674363361?cache=08ffb2ca2125067bdd4dc6a42f6ffdb5&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1405090172&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1

no don't read that if you want to get into beginnings of language. it's a good book for learning about the english language's development but no original development.

my favorite book on that subject is by robin dunbar.

Stephen Pinker, W. Tecumseh Sherman Fitch and others have some great discussions on it in their books. But original language development is by no means a settled issue and is one of the hottest debates in linguistics. terribly interesting.

I would add to that the argument by Robin Dunbar he makes in his book: accents help to quickly recognize if someone else is part of your in-group (family, community, region, etc.). As such, accents are deemed to be a mean to establish trust between people on a certain level.

One of my favorite books when it comes to Linguistic Anthropology, and it touches on language conservation issues:
We Share Walls

This is my favorite Linguistic Anthropology Reader, tons of articles that really make up the base of the field: Linguistic Anthropology Reader

A fun read even if you don't like Evolutionary Psychology: http://www.amazon.com/Grooming-Gossip-Evolution-Language-Dunbar/dp/0674363361

> Wow, is this really true?

From what I've been told about current theory </disclaimer> Yes. Although it had less to do with hunting and more to do with climate change (migration). <disclaimer> I realize when talking about evolutionary forces, everything kinda comes down to hunting and mating. But more directly: climate.

Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language is an excellent, readable book that was required for anthropology.

Grooming, Gossip, And The Evolution of Language written by Dunbar provides a lot of interesting insight and theory of our communication and relationship histories. I read it for an Anthropology of Communication class and highly recommend it to anyone interested by this topic!